Release of deleted scenes is a much-looked-forward-to affair in both Hollywood and Bollywood. But the trend was either not there or not taken seriously in Malayalam until the very recent release of the unused scenes from the cult hit Ennu Ninte Moideen.
The trend is fast catching on with Aashiq Abu also releasing deleted scenes from his recent movie Rani Padmini and Ranjith Shankar planning to release deleted scenes of his recently released movie Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam soon.
“Even the released version of Ennu Ninte Moideen was an unusually long film. Many of the scenes had to be cut out despite them being beautiful and relevant as we were afraid that the theatres wouldn’t agree to have such a longer version and that the audience wouldn’t have the patience to sit through it. It felt almost like cutting off my own head. But it was necessary. So I decided to launch these scenes independently through the Internet so that the audience will have an opportunity to watch and place these scenes within the context of the film to add to their experience. We didn’t even promote these videos as we had no intention of using them as a promotional tool. Yet, the videos received great viewership. It just shows how much people have accepted the film. I have already released two deleted scenes and I am planning to launch one more once the film reaches 75 days,” says R.S. Vimal, director of Ennu Ninte Moideen.
He adds that more directors must utilise this opportunity and release the deleted scenes from their movies. “The Internet and alternative media platforms are a great opportunity for directors.
There are a lot of scenes shot brilliantly and then chucked because of pressure from the producer due to length or sometimes the scene not fitting into the final film or sometimes because of censor issues. I feel all directors should release such scenes so that the viewers will have a chance to see them,” he adds.
Sandeep Narayan, the executive producer of Aashiq Abu’s Rani Padmini, agrees with this. “There are many directors who shoot four hours worth of content for each movie and laboriously edit it out for the final film. These tools become an assured way for them to take these scenes to the audience even if they don’t fit into the final movie. But even for other directors, like Aashiq who shoots keeping the time of the final movie in mind, it is beneficial. For example, in Rani Padmini, we filmed some interesting scenes. But when it came to the editing table, despite each of those scenes being very appealing independently, they simply wouldn’t fit into the movie’s narrative. It seemed an unnecessary addition. So we had to cut it. But we still felt that people deserved to see those scenes and decided to launch it as deleted scenes.”
For director Ranjith Shankar, the launch of deleted scenes is no new trend. He had previously launched many of the deleted scenes from his earlier movie Punyalan Agarbattis and is now planning to do the same for Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam as well.
“Launching of deleted scenes is definitely something that piques the interest of your audience. It makes them curious about the film and its content and it’s an effective way for promoting your films without giving away the content. Ennu Ninte Moideen’s deleted scenes had made waves and the Internet is increasingly becoming one of the smartest tools to promote your movie. With Su Su Sudhi Vathmeekam too I’m planning something along the same lines. As of now, we are still releasing the songs. So once we are done with that and a little time has passed after the release of the movie, we’ll launch the deleted scenes.”
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